


The Force Is Strong With This One

by rozabellalove



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Geeky, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-04
Updated: 2011-09-04
Packaged: 2017-10-23 10:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozabellalove/pseuds/rozabellalove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for mystizan.<br/>She asked for Hardison finding out that Eliot is into Star Wars. Eliot has modeled some of his fighting style on the lightsaber duels and Hardison manages to film Eliot, and shows it to the team (well, just Parker, but still.) Eliot's not exactly happy...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Force Is Strong With This One

~*~  
Hardison  
~*~

“I know what you did the other night.” Eliot’s tone was calm, as if he was just stating a fact. There were no flying accusations yet, but still Hardison stopped in his tracks for a second, head still in the fridge.

“Uh, the other night? Which night? Been a lot of nights recently. One after every day, right?” Why did he have to do it? Eliot’s eyes were narrowing now, and Hardison knew he’d gone a step too far.

“Wednesday.” The hitter growled through gritted teeth, making Hardison swallow nervously.

He shut the fridge door with his foot and carried the salmon and cream cheese over to where Eliot was chopping onions with a frightening speed and accuracy. “Wednesday? Uh…Wednesday…” He stalled, knowing full well that it was the night he’d used a little surprise Tara to get rid of the hitter so he could have some alone time with Parker.

Eliot was holding a knife that seemed a little too large and sharp for just cutting onions. The light glinted off it in interesting ways as Eliot chopped precisely, occasionally letting it spin in his hand for effect, knowing Hardison was watching. A raised eyebrow, combined with the tip of the knife burying itself in the solid wooden chopping block, twanging with the force of Eliot’s thrust, and Hardison was nervously stuttering, “Oh, yeah. Wednseday. Wasn’t that the night you and Tara…”

The hitter’s frosty façade dropped as he grinned and clapped Hardison on the shoulder. “Thanks, man. I needed that. She told me what you did.” Hardison breathed a sigh of relief.

“Damn, she wasn’t supposed to say anything.” He wasn’t happy that she’d told Eliot about his message, but then at least Eliot seemed okay about it, and it had all worked out in the end. “What did she say?”

Eliot had yanked the knife out of the wood and was scraping the onions into a hot pan, leaning back out of the steam as they sizzled in the thin layer of hot oil. “She said you’d wanted me to relax after what happened with Sterling. I gotta admit, man, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Oh, uh…yeah. Yeah.” Hardison grinned, quickly covering his slip and taking a long swig of his orange soda. “You two have a good time?”

Eliot’s answering grin said it all. He’d noticed the chemistry between the hitter and the grifter quite early on. Eliot was usually quite discreet about women, glancing at them but never staring, letting them come to him. After watching Tara fighting by his side against the Triads, Eliot had looked at her with something more than just the respect they all had for each other as colleagues. Tara was far from oblivious, but the timing just hadn’t been right between them and she’d never taken advantage of the situation. Hardison had wondered at the time whether maybe she was under orders from Sophie. Either way, she’d jumped at the chance to come and soothe Eliot when it was offered to her. From the happy way Eliot was humming to himself as he cooked and the relaxed set of his shoulders, Hardison thought she’d done a pretty good job.

“This is gonna be ready in five, get the film on.” At least when Eliot was bossing him around, Hardison knew his mind was elsewhere. Distracting the hitter from pursuing the reason _why_ Hardison would have wanted him out of the way was much easier when Eliot was focusing on something else. “And skip the trailers. Hate the goddamn trailers.”

~*~  
Eliot  
~*~

The music started and Eliot froze, the two bowls in his hands gripped tightly. He looked over and found Hardison grinning to himself, practically rubbing his hands together at the thought of forcing Eliot to watch a Star Wars film. The hacker couldn’t know that Eliot had already seen this film many, many times. He’d just watch it and pretend to hate it. He wasn’t too bad at acting, Hardison would never need to know.

He set down the bowls on the table and cracked some black pepper over his own, taking a swig of beer before sitting back with his food and watching the opening credits of A New Hope.

Around halfway through the film he caught himself mouthing along with the words and had to sit back in his seat and cross his arms. “How long is this damn film, Hardison?” He thought he’d managed the right gruff tone, the hacker looked a little hurt by the fact that Eliot wasn’t enjoying the film as much as he’d hoped. Perfect.

As the fight scene between Vader and Obi-Wan began on screen, Eliot felt his heart begin to beat a little faster. Once again he watched the moves of the deadly lightsabers, watched as Vader forced Obi-Wan into a corner, despite Obi-Wan’s obvious greater skill, and watched the master let himself be defeated by the student. He was itching to rewind and watch it again, like he would if he was on his own, blocking out the moves on his own, but Hardison would never let him live it down, he just couldn’t do it.

The hacker was equally focused on the film, though. He didn’t seem to have realized the effect it was having on Eliot.

After it finished, Eliot ushered Hardison out of his apartment quickly, locking the door behind him and leaning against it, sighing in relief. He’d given a garbled, “It was okay, but not really my thing.” In response to Hardison’s enthusiastic ‘did you like it?’

The hacker had taken his copy of the film, but Eliot had all the various editions in a drawer under his bed, next to a couple of items he’d rather die than admit that he owned. He let his hand slide over them before he pulled them out. No-one could know about this, he’d have to go on a killing spree if anyone ever found out. It would be the end of his reputation.

~*~  
Hardison  
~*~

Eliot’s reaction had been muted as usual. Hardison was dying to know what the hitter had really thought about the film. Which was why he’d taken the opportunity to slip a tiny hidden button-cam onto the hitter’s TV stand when he was taking out the disc. He padded quietly down the hall and into the empty stairwell, opening up the surveillance program on his tablet and waiting for the footage to load.

At first the screen was black for too long, but then as Eliot’s butt came into focus on screen, Hardison realized he’d just been up too close to the lens and had obscured the view of the room. Eliot was moving the furniture away from the television, clearing a space. Hardison frowned, what was he doing?

It took a minute for him to really focus on what Eliot was wearing. Was that…a hooded robe? It was!

The camera was limited but it picked up some sound, Hardison heard the opening strains of the star wars music again before Eliot skipped a few scenes. He stared at the tablet, open-mouthed. Eliot was standing in the middle of the room, facing the TV screen, head lowered and hands inside the wide sleeves of the robe. As the fight scene between Obi-Wan and Vader started for the second time that day, Hardison watched Eliot fall into Obi-Wan’s stance, gasping as Eliot let the sleeves of his robe fall back to reveal a sheathed plastic lightsaber. The hitter pulled it to full length and flipped on the button that controlled the light and sound effects.

Hardison’s eyes were burning, he hadn’t blinked since the scene had started. Eliot was blocking out the moves now, mouthing the dialogue word for word, swinging the lightsaber two-handed, as if it was a sword. It was at the same time extremely geeky, and totally cool. He only wished he was there with Eliot to play Vader to his Obi-Wan. It would have been perfect. He was tempted to go back and offer his services, but that would result in violence, even he wasn’t _that_ stupid.

He watched as the short scene came to a close and where Eliot should have crumpled to the ground a-la Obi-Wan, he instead swung in a tight arc and began to fight back against an imaginary Vader. Eliot’s moves were graceful and deadly, forcing the imaginary Vader into a corner before going in for the kill. Hardison barely contained a cheer as Eliot won the imaginary battle. He’d always rooted for Obi-Wan.

~*~  
Eliot  
~*~

Hardison was so unsubtle. He was grinning like an idiot. A grin that said ‘ask me what I’m grinning about‘. He’d be damned if he rose to the bait, though. His phone buzzed with a text, distracting him from the way Hardison was begging for a beating.

 **Sunday night, my place, T x**

He smiled and it was suddenly easier to ignore Hardison’s shit-eating grin. Typing back a quick reply, he felt Nate’s couch dip beneath them as Parker threw herself onto it, landing between the two of them.

“What’s so funny?” She was poking Hardison. Dammit! Now he’d have an excuse to spill whatever he was trying to get Eliot to ask him about.

“Oh, just this video I saw the other night.” Parker’s fingers lingered on the hacker’s arm, but before Eliot could really process what that might mean, Hardison was reaching for his remote. “You wanna see?”

Parker scrunched up her face, pondering, “Is it going to be one of those things that you think is funny, but no-one else does? Like those kitties chasing the lazer dot?” She stretched out, legs in the hacker’s lap, elbow digging into Eliot’s thigh.

“Nope, just watch, it’s much better than that.”

The video started, for some reason it was only on half of the screens, the ones on the left. It was the lead up to the Obi-Wan/Vader duel. “Dammit, Hardison! We’ve seen this, I‘m guessing Parker has too.”

“Not this version.” The hacker grinned and flicked another button. The screen on the right flashed dark for a second before Eliot saw something moving, it was his ass, moving away from the camera.

“What the…?” His breath caught in his throat as he took in what he was wearing. The robe. He was wearing the goddamn robe. And… He scrambled for the controls. “Give it. Hardison, dammit, I am not kidding. Fucking give it to me now.”

But Parker was in the way, and seemed to be making herself into something of a human shield for Hardison, because she was loving the video. She giggled as Eliot’s movements exactly mirrored the Jedi onscreen, her arms flailing so that Eliot couldn’t get a clean shot at the hacker. She landed in Hardison’s lap, squealing with laughter.

“Fine.” He got up and grabbed the DVD player, ripping it out of the wall with a spark. Hardison and Parker had tumbled into the space he’d left and were giggling like schoolchildren. “You think this is funny?” He turned with the player still clutched in one hand, holding it like a piece of vital evidence, proving Hardison’s crime. He could feel the veins in his neck and temple popping out from his skin, blood rushing to flood his face, free fist clenched so tightly that he was shaking.

“Mmm!” Parker managed a squeaked affirmation in between blasts of laughter. She was actually crying, face bright pink and tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.

Hardison at least had the decency to look a little shamed. “It’s a very _distinctive_ fighting style. Wouldn’t you say, Eliot?”

The thin metal casing of the DVD player crumpled in his hand. He launched it at the wall and stormed out of the apartment. The hacker could pay Nate back for the damage. He was off to find something or someone else to break.

~*~  
Hardison  
~*~

Eliot was pissed. More than pissed, he was furious. Hardison couldn’t quite bring himself to care too much, though. He knew Eliot would calm down and maybe see the funny side. Well, okay, he probably wouldn’t see the funny side, but he’d calm down. And he wouldn’t hurt Hardison too much, even if he might want to.

It had made Parker laugh, though. That was worth more than worrying about Eliot’s retaliation. She was still giggling in little bursts, as if the images were popping into her head even though the screen was blank now.

He hummed the opening bars of the Star Wars music and she cracked up again, slapping her thigh, tears appearing at the corners of her eyes. She was lying across his lap, eyes closed as she giggled. Hardison brushed away the tears and cupped a hand around the back of her head, pulling her up for a kiss. She seemed to relax into his arms and even stroked the back of his neck as they kissed.

She pulled back, beaming at him with amusement. “Did you make another copy?”

“Puh! Wha! I?” Hardison stuttered, pretending to be offended. “Did I make another copy? Woman, do you know who you’re talking to? I didn’t need to make a copy. I put it on YouTube.”

Her peals of laughter rang out through the apartment. They made it worth the eventual ass-kicking he was going to get for this. Totally worth it.


End file.
